Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed 13 February, 2026 is acknowledged and has been entered.
Claim rejection(s) under 112(b) regarding claim(s) 10 and 21 have been overcome in view of the amendment to the claim(s).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s argument filed 13 February, 2026 has been fully considered but is moot in view of a new ground of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7, 11, 17, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Buzzi et al. (Radar Target Detection Aided by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces, IEEE, April 1, 2021 newly cited “BUZZI”).
Regarding claim 1, BUZZI discloses a method, applicable to a first device, wherein a second device comprises a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) (a target detection problem where the radar is assisted by an RIS [pg. 2, section II. System Model]), and the method comprises: sensing a target in collaboration with the second device based on a RIS capability of the second device, wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability, the RIS reflection capability represents that the second device supports reflection of a first sensing signal from the first device to the target, and the RIS refraction capability represents that the second device supports generation of a second sensing signal and sending of the second sensing signal to the target, and wherein sensing the target in collaboration with the second device comprises: sending the first sensing signal to the second device; and receiving, from the target, an echo signal caused by the first sensing signal (RISs are nearly passive devices, with very low energy consumption, which have the capability of tuning the phase, amplitude, frequency, and polarization of reflected impinging wavefronts […] the radar can transmit (or receive) through two separate beams, one pointing towards the inspected resolution cell and one pointing towards the RIS, which is aimed at focusing the impinging wavefront towards the prospective target during the transmission phase (or towards the radar during the reception phase) [pg. 1, Section I. Introduction & FIG. 1]); (the target radar cross-sections (RCSs) observed from the radar and from the RIS [pg. 3, Section II. System Model & FIG. 1]). Examiner’s note: It is further noted that the limitation “wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability” is in alternative form; therefore, only one alternative was given patentable weight (i.e., RIS reflection capability).
Regarding claim 7, BUZZI discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the RIS capability comprises the RIS reflection capability, and sensing the target in collaboration with the second device comprises: obtaining a sensing result of the target based on the echo signal (RISs are nearly passive devices, with very low energy consumption, which have the capability of tuning the phase, amplitude, frequency, and polarization of reflected impinging wavefronts […] the radar can transmit (or receive) through two separate beams, one pointing towards the inspected resolution cell and one pointing towards the RIS, which is aimed at focusing the impinging wavefront towards the prospective target during the transmission phase (or towards the radar during the reception phase) [pg. 1, Section I. Introduction & FIG. 1]); (the target radar cross-sections (RCSs) observed from the radar and from the RIS [pg. 3, Section II. System Model & FIG. 1], cited and incorporated in the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 11, BUZZI discloses a method, applicable to a second device, wherein the second device comprises a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) (a target detection problem where the radar is assisted by an RIS [pg. 2, section II. System Model]), and the method comprises: sensing a target in collaboration with a first device based on a RIS capability, wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability, the RIS reflection capability represents that the second device supports reflection of a first sensing signal from the first device to the target, and the RIS refraction capability represents that the second device supports generation of a second sensing signal and sending of the second sensing signal to the target, and wherein sensing the target in collaboration with the first device comprises: receiving the first sensing signal from the first device; and receiving, from the target, an echo signal caused by the first sensing signal (RISs are nearly passive devices, with very low energy consumption, which have the capability of tuning the phase, amplitude, frequency, and polarization of reflected impinging wavefronts […] the radar can transmit (or receive) through two separate beams, one pointing towards the inspected resolution cell and one pointing towards the RIS, which is aimed at focusing the impinging wavefront towards the prospective target during the transmission phase (or towards the radar during the reception phase) [pg. 1, Section I. Introduction & FIG. 1]); (the target radar cross-sections (RCSs) observed from the radar and from the RIS [pg. 3, Section II. System Model & FIG. 1]). It is further noted that the limitation “wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability” is in alternative form; therefore, only one alternative was given patentable weight (i.e., RIS reflection capability).
Regarding claim 17, DAI discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein the RIS capability comprises the RIS reflection capability, and sensing the target in collaboration with the first device further comprises: reflecting the first sensing signal to the target based on a beam of the RIS (the RIS 418 may be configured to provide the information to the BS 405 by reflecting at least a portion of the sensing signal 420 to the UE 415 [0069], cited and incorporated in the rejection of claim 11).
Regarding claim 22, BUZZI discloses an electronic device, comprising at least one processor, at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, and a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), wherein: the at least one memory stores computer-executable instructions; and the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to perform operations (a target detection problem where the radar is assisted by an RIS [pg. 2, section II. System Model]. It is further noted that though a processor and a memory are not explicitly recited in BUZZI, it is implicit that the system in BUZZI would comprise the processor and the memory) comprising: sensing a target in collaboration with a first device based on a RIS capability, wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability, the RIS reflection capability represents that the electronic device supports reflection of a first sensing signal from the first device to the target, and the RIS refraction capability represent that the electronic device supports generation of a second sensing signal and sending of the second sensing signal to the target, and wherein sensing the target in collaboration with the first device comprises: receiving the first sensing signal from the first device; and receiving, from the target, an echo signal caused by the first sensing signal (RISs are nearly passive devices, with very low energy consumption, which have the capability of tuning the phase, amplitude, frequency, and polarization of reflected impinging wavefronts […] the radar can transmit (or receive) through two separate beams, one pointing towards the inspected resolution cell and one pointing towards the RIS, which is aimed at focusing the impinging wavefront towards the prospective target during the transmission phase (or towards the radar during the reception phase) [pg. 1, Section I. Introduction & FIG. 1]); (the target radar cross-sections (RCSs) observed from the radar and from the RIS [pg. 3, Section II. System Model & FIG. 1]). It is further noted that the limitation “wherein the RIS capability is a RIS reflection capability and/or a RIS refraction capability” is in alternative form; therefore, only one alternative was given patentable weight (i.e., RIS reflection capability).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 2-4, 10, 12-15, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BUZZI, in view of Dai et al. (US 2022/0322321 A1 previously cited “DAI”).
Regarding claim 2, BUZZI (Examiner’s note: What BUZZI does not explicitly disclose is ) discloses the method according to claim 1,
In a same or similar field of endeavor, DAI teaches that prior to transmitting the sensing signal and/or inquiring the information associated with the RIS, the BS may inform the RIS about the reflective position and/or configuration of the RIS elements (e.g., the reflective elements 237) such that the RIS may be configured so that the RIS may receive the sensing signal and reflect the sensing towards a certain direction (e.g., towards the BS or a UE) [0105]. The array of controllable surfaces may be configured such that angles of reflection 330a and 330b are individually and independently controllable allowing beam steering of the radio waves towards the UE 315 and/or the BS 305 [0066]. Furthermore, DAI teaches that the BS 505 may periodically determine the location of the UE 515 or other wireless devices nearby RIS 518 that are capable of communicating with the RIS 518 and transmit the information (e.g., the UE 515 identification, the position of the UE 515, resources of the UE 515, a list of information parameters required from the RIS 518, etc.) to the RIS 518 [0083].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of BUZZI to include the teachings of DAI, because doing so would improve and enhance desired communications, as recognized by DAI.
Regarding claim 3, BUZZI/ DAI discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the control information comprises a RIS parameter, the RIS parameter is related to the RIS capability, and before the sending control information to the second device based on the RIS capability, the method further comprises: obtaining the RIS parameter based on information about the target, wherein the information about the target comprises an identifier of the target, an orientation of the target, or a location of the target (prior to transmitting the sensing signal and/or inquiring the information associated with the RIS, the BS may inform the RIS about the reflective position and/or configuration of the RIS elements (e.g., the reflective elements 237) such that the RIS may be configured so that the RIS may receive the sensing signal and reflect the sensing towards a certain direction (e.g., towards the BS or a UE) [DAI 0105]. The array of controllable surfaces may be configured such that angles of reflection 330a and 330b are individually and independently controllable allowing beam steering of the radio waves towards the UE 315 and/or the BS 305 [DAI 0066], cited and incorporated in the rejection of claim 2); (the BS 505 may periodically determine the location of the UE 515 or other wireless devices nearby RIS 518 that are capable of communicating with the RIS 518 and transmit the information (e.g., the UE 515 identification, the position of the UE 515, resources of the UE 515, a list of information parameters required from the RIS 518, etc.) to the RIS 518 [DAI 0083], cited and incorporated in the rejection of claim 2).
Regarding claim 4, BUZZI/ DAI discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the control information comprises information about the target, and the information about the target comprises an identifier of the target, an orientation of the target, or a location of the target (the BS 505 may periodically determine the location of the UE 515 or other wireless devices nearby RIS 518 that are capable of communicating with the RIS 518 and transmit the information (e.g., the UE 515 identification, the position of the UE 515, resources of the UE 515, a list of information parameters required from the RIS 518, etc.) to the RIS 518 [DAI 0083], cited and incorporated in the rejection of claim 2).
Regarding claim 10, BUZZI discloses the method according to claim 1,
In a same or similar field of endeavor, DAI teaches that the RIS may provide the BSs 105 (or other control node in the network 100) with information associated with the RIS. The information may include a status of the RIS (e.g., online, offline, wake mode, sleep mode, etc.) and/or parameters associated with functionality of the RIS (e.g., location, battery charge status, capabilities, identification, authentication, etc.) [0056]. In some instances, the RIS 418 may be operating in a mode (e.g., a silent mode, a sleep mode, a low power mode) that limits the transmit capabilities of the RIS 418. The BS 405 may detect that the RIS 418 is operating in a mode that limits the transmit capabilities of the RIS 418 and transmit the sensing signal 420 based on the detected mode [0069].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of BUZZI to include the teachings of DAI, because doing so would improve and enhance desired communications, as recognized by DAI.
Claim 12 corresponds to claim 2 sufficiently in scope and therefore is similarly rejected.
Regarding claim 13, BUZZI, as modified, discloses the method according to claim 12,
In a same or similar field of endeavor, DAI teaches that the RIS may provide the BSs 105 (or other control node in the network 100) with information associated with the RIS. The information may include a status of the RIS (e.g., online, offline, wake mode, sleep mode, etc.) and/or parameters associated with functionality of the RIS (e.g., location, battery charge status, capabilities, identification, authentication, etc.) [0056]. In some instances, the RIS 418 may be operating in a mode (e.g., a silent mode, a sleep mode, a low power mode) that limits the transmit capabilities of the RIS 418. The BS 405 may detect that the RIS 418 is operating in a mode that limits the transmit capabilities of the RIS 418 and transmit the sensing signal 420 based on the detected mode [0069]. The array of controllable surfaces may be configured such that angles of reflection 330a and 330b are individually and independently controllable allowing beam steering of the radio waves towards the UE 315 and/or the BS 305 [0066].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of BUZZI to include the teachings of DAI, because doing so would improve and enhance desired communications, as recognized by DAI.
Claim 14 corresponds to claim 4 sufficiently in scope and therefore is similarly rejected.
Claim 15 corresponds to claim 3 sufficiently in scope and therefore is similarly rejected.
Claim 21 corresponds to claim 10 sufficiently in scope and therefore is similarly rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 5-6, 8, 16, and 18-19 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter of claim(s) 5-6, 8, 16, and 18-19:
The closest reference BUZZI discloses the target detection problem in a sensing architecture where the radar is aided by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), that can be modeled as an array of sub-wavelength small reflective elements capable of imposing a tunable phase shift to the impinging waves and, ultimately, of providing the radar with an additional echo of the target. A theoretical analysis is carried out for closely- and widely-spaced (with respect to the target) radar and RIS and for different beampattern configurations, and some examples are provided to show that large gains can be achieved by the considered detection architecture.
DAI further discloses that the RIS 318a and RIS 318b may include an array (e.g., a rectangular array) of controllable (e.g., individually controllable) surfaces as described in detail above with reference to FIG. 2. The controllable surfaces may include a material (e.g., a metamaterial) and/or diodes configured to reflect and/or refract the incident radio signal. The array of controllable surfaces may be configured such that angles of reflection 330a and 330b are individually and independently controllable allowing beam steering of the radio waves towards the UE 315 and/or the BS 305 [0066].
However, Applicant’s claim 5 also encompasses an invention that the prior art does not disclose, teach, or otherwise render obvious. Specifically, there is nothing in the prior art that would suggest modifying BUZZI and DAI to have the missing elements without the improper use of hindsight. Specifically, nothing in the prior art would suggest that “wherein when the RIS capability is the RIS refraction capability, the control information further comprises a sensing requirement, and the sensing requirement comprises a sensing purpose, a sensing performance requirement, and a sensing parameter” as recited in claim 5.
Similarly, nothing in the prior art would suggest “wherein when the RIS capability is the RIS reflection capability and the RIS refraction capability, the control information further comprises an identifier of the RIS capability, and the identifier of the RIS capability indicates that the second device uses the RIS reflection capability and the RIS refraction capability” as recited in claim 6.
Similarly, nothing in the prior art would suggest “wherein the RIS capability further comprises the RIS refraction capability, the sensing result is a first sensing result, and the method further comprises: receiving a second sensing result from the second device; and wherein obtaining the sensing result of the target based on the echo signal comprises: obtaining a third sensing result of the target based on the echo signal; and obtaining the first sensing result based on a weighted average of the third sensing result and the second sensing result, wherein a first weight associated with the third sensing result is determined based on a first sensing capability of the first device, and a second weight associated with the second sensing result is determined based on a second sensing capability of the second device” as recited in claim 8.
Similarly, nothing in the prior art would suggest “wherein when the RIS capability is the RIS reflection capability and the RIS refraction capability, the control information further comprises an identifier of the RIS capability, and the identifier of the RIS capability indicates that the second device uses the RIS reflection capability and the RIS refraction capability; and wherein the obtaining a RIS parameter based on the control information comprises: obtaining the RIS parameter based on the information about the target and the identifier of the RIS capability” as recited in claim 16.
Similarly, nothing in the prior art would suggest “wherein the RIS capability further comprises the RIS refraction capability, receiving the echo signal caused by the first sensing signal comprises receiving the echo signal from the target based on the RIS refraction capability, and after the reflecting the first sensing signal to the target, the method further comprises: obtaining a second sensing result of the target based on the echo signal; and sending the second sensing result to the first device, wherein a first sensing result of the target is determined based on the second sensing result and a weight determined based on a sensing capability of the second device” as recited in claim 18.
Similarly, nothing in the prior art would suggest “wherein the RIS capability is the RIS refraction capability, the echo signal is caused by the first sensing signal based on the RIS refraction capability, and sensing the target in collaboration with the first device further comprises: generating the second sensing signal; sending the second sensing signal to the target based on the beam of the RIS; obtaining a sensing result of the target based on the echo signal; and sending the sensing result to the first device” as recited in claim 19.
Within the context of Applicant’s claimed invention as a whole, the prior arts made of record individually or in any combination, failed to teach, render obvious, or fairly suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the combination of the claimed feature(s) of claim(s) 5-6, 8, 16, and 18-19.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAILEY R LE whose telephone number is (571)272-4910. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE can be reached at (571) 270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Hailey R Le/Examiner, Art Unit 3648 June 12, 2026
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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